Magnetic
by tokyoblackbird
Summary: Allen and Kanda must sing a duet cover of the Vocaloid love song, Magnet, for Lenalee's fundraiser concert.
1. Two Magnets

_**1. hikiyosete, magunetto no you ni...**_

(as if we were two magnets,

draw me closer)

* * *

><p>Allen and Kanda sat at opposite ends of a spacious room flooded with sunset light, three hours before show time. Tidy racks of elegant costumes intermittently broke the smooth surround of floor to ceiling mirrors along one wall, floor to ceiling windows along the other. Baskets of makeup and colorful spray bottles cluttered the shelves in between.<p>

Allen was bare-chested, absent-mindedly lacing up his impressively heeled boots. Unknown to him, passing girls outside would point and giggle at him through the glass.

"_Kabosoi hi ga kokoro no hashi ni tomoru_," Allen sang, his voice happy and light, much too innocent for the lyrics. Allen didn't speak Japanese, but he was pretty damn skilled at inflection, Kanda thought, watching those pink lips move, soft and pliable, always turned up warmly at the corners. "_Itsu no ma ni ka moehirogaru netsujou_—"

_Netsujou _indeed. Kanda pictured himself pinching Allen's neat little chin between thumb and forefinger, tilting his head up and forcing their gazes to lock. He wouldn't give those pretty gray eyes time to close, no, before they kissed. He wanted to fall into those eyes as he fell into the taste of that mouth as they fell, a hot tangle, into…

Kanda blushed at the thought. "Shut up, bean sprout! You sound stupid." He shoved his stage clothes away with a boot and buried his face in his arms. "This whole thing is the stupid. I'm not doing it."

Abruptly the singing stopped. "The name's Allen!" Allen scowled. (_Cute,_ Kanda thought unwillingly.) "And it's not like I want to duet with you either! Just—let's just practice and get this over with okay? C'mon. Together now. _Dakiyosete hoshii—"_

_Dakiyosete? _"Hell no!" _What the fuck was Lenalee thinking, picking this song? _"Singing this crap—with you is—it's disgus—"

Allen leapt up with a roar. "I'll show you what's disgusting, you—"

"DON'T MIND YUU!" cried Lavi's cheerful voice. "YOU HAVE _ME_ TO SING WITH YOU ANYTIME, ALLEN!"

A familiar shock of fluffy auburn hair popped out from behind the curtains. "Some people just don't have a natural showman talent, I understand. Kanda, I've got you covered." A wink.

"Lavi!" Allen waved, his smile widening. The warmth in his voice made Kanda's stomach clench. "Great! I've been trying to get Kanda to join in for the past hour but he's really—" Pointed glance. "—not cooperating."

"It's okay," Lavi whispered. Was that a rather too-intimate purr in his voice? Was that a blush on Allen's cheek? "I know how much this charity show means to Lenalee. We won't let her down! Let's go find somewhere private to…_practice_."

"Alright! I know I can always count on you, Lavi."

"Haha! It's nothing!" Nonchalantly, he grabbed Allen's hand and pulled him into a narrow door at one end of the room. "This will do." The door slammed.

"A closet?" came Allen's slightly muffled voice. Did Allen sound a little more breathless than usual? Kanda simultaneously wished he could and couldn't tell. "It's—it's rather cramped in here, isn't it?"

"There's just enough spaces for us to _harmonize_," came Lavi's wry reply.

"Haha, true!" Allen laughed, completely missing the subtext. "Well then! From the top."

And then it was Allen's sweet, boyish voice twining around Lavi's careless tenor, building a melody overfull with laughter and self-satisfaction. The sun was steadily sinking, the sky darkening, painting the dressing room in ash grays and fiery crimson. Kanda dug his fingernails into his palms.

"_Kisu o shite_ _nurikaete hoshii_ …" sang Lavi, low and dirty, and laughed. Kanda, all rage, snatched up the gaudy butterfly headphones he was supposed to wear during the performance and clamped them over his ears, gritting his teeth. Still he could hear the next words, Allen's response, sensual in its innocence: "_Miwaku no toki ni yoishire oborete itai no_…"

So pretty. So clueless. Kanda could have screamed with jealousy, but he didn't. The voices in the closet had fallen suspiciously silent, and he likewise didn't dare make a sound.

"Nn, what is it, Lavi?" Spoken so softly, Kanda could barely hear. He found himself subconsciously crawling on hands and knees closer toward the closet door.

"You really don't know what you're singing?" Lavi was teasing. "That's so cute."

"Haha, well, no…. Hopefully that's not a big problem! I've just been so busy and…"

"Want me to tell you?"

"Sure!"

Whispers. The kind that demanded lips close enough to brush earlobes. Kanda was sure he could hear the sound of a blush rising to porcelain skin.

"Ohh!" An tense silence. "Haha! R-r-r-really!"

"Yup! On my honor as a Bookman, I do not lie." A laugh, the brush of fingers on cotton. Somehow Kanda found himself with his ear pressed hard against the keyhole. When did he even get up? He wasn't sure. All he knew was, he couldn't breathe for listening. "So…Allen. Now that you know, we'll sing with more…_passion_, eh?"

"P-p-p-passion?" The leisurely whine of a zipper, unzipping.

"_Please make me believe that this is not a sin_," Lavi sang in English now, slowly. "_I want you to kiss me_…" A long pause. "_And repaint my body._"

"L-L-L-Lavi," Allen stammered. "P-please…."

Later, Kanda would not remember the decision to act.

In one smooth motion, Kanda unsheathed Mugen and yanked the door open. The roar that escaped his lips could be heard for half a mile it seemed, at least it rattled the glass. Lavi's hands were pressed flat against Allen's chest; their eyes were half-lidded despite the dark, their lips half an inch apart. _Crack!_ came the sound of vengeance, the sound of metal against flesh. _Crack! Swish! Crack!_ Later, Lavi would recount the look in Kanda's eyes and fail to find the words to describe it.

(This was very troubling for a Bookman, and hurt a lot more than the welt across the back of his hand and the bruise across his face. It was a shame Kanda sliced clean through his favorite headband but given he'd only barely escaped a cracked skull, he didn't feel like complaining really.)

(God, that Kanda, he'd only say. Rather high-strung.)

"FIGHT ME! YOU'LL HAVE TO FIGHT ME!" Kanda found himself roaring. "COWARD! DOG!"

"For what?" Lavi returned boldly. "It's not like you'll win—" And he wasn't talking entirely about winning a fistfight.

"KANDA!" Allen's anti-Akuma weapon flared to life, his left arm a huge shield between Lavi's suddenly engorged hammer and Kanda's glistening blade. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

Sudden silence. Kanda could have cried with frustration.

How could he explain to anyone if he couldn't even explain it to himself? The feelings—repulsive, strange, and so embarrassingly tender—that rose in him when he watched Allen in those quiet moments of contentment, of rest…. The…other things that rose in the night when he dreamed of the compact perfection of his body, when he imagined that body underneath him, warm and vulnerable and open for touching…. The inexplicable protectiveness, the jealousy…. And the profound discomfort from not being around him, and from being around him just as Kanda, someone who would never be charming enough, warm enough, _normal _enough, to be attractive like Allen was. Attractive to Allen. Always a freak. A freak who happened to be in l-l-l—

He couldn't even say it.

Already he could hear Lavi reassuring Allen with a laugh and shrug in his voice, saying something easy that Allen would understand and smile at. Something that would tip the scales against Kanda once again.

Words. He could never get them to come out right the way other people could. Allen would never understand how underneath the scowls and the insults and the awkwardness, Kanda just wanted to say, "Notice me. Notice me. If only for a little while, notice and _feel something_ about me." Because I am loyal, and brave, and honest, and I will fight for you. Please l-l-l-

Kanda managed a strangled grunt and stormed away.

He didn't expect the tap of feet jogging to keep up with his longer stride. "I know why you're angry," Allen said carefully.

Kanda didn't respond. Stupid beansprout was surprisingly speedy in heels. He really should rezip his fly though. It was distracting.

"You don't want Lavi to sing with me. _You_ wanted to sing with me."

"Fuck you," Kanda replied.

"Well, I understand." A smile, one that softened his eyes. "There's still two hours. Let's practice together."

The initial touch—timid, gentle. Kanda felt his hand warming in Allen's grasp until his fingers dared to bend, to try to hold on.

"Your fly's undone," Kanda said gruffly, after a while. "Stupid beansprout can't even dress yourself."

"Ahahahaha!" Allen blushed pink to his ears. "You distracted me with your cute butterfly earphones."

It was Kanda's turn to blush.

Allen squeezed his hand, and after a moment, Kanda squeezed hesitantly back.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>* Inspired by one of my favorite vocaloid songs.

* "Allen's anti-Akuma weapon flared to life, his left arm a huge shield between **Lavi's suddenly engorged hammer** and **Kanda's glistening blade**."  
>Okay, byeee.<p> 


	2. One and Only

**2. sore de ii no dare yori mo taisetsu na anata**

(That's fine, for you're my

one and only love.)

* * *

><p>Allen and Kanda stood at opposite ends of a spacious stage, flooded with limelight. Show time. They could hardly see each other through the flash photography, so they did not try. Rather they gazed off into opposite directions as the first few piano notes trilled, nervous and bright, followed by the heartbeat boom of the drums. "Let it go," they whispered, as if in mutual encouragement.<p>

The trill of the piano, now crying with eagerness.

"Haha, I'm so glad there are lines," Allen laughed backstage before suddenly scowling. "Too bad they're so dumb. But it's better than not knowing what to say."

So there was no lag in their on-stage conversation. Back and forth they traded their pretty words of desire, Allen with virginal sweetness, Kanda with a cautious passion. And slowly they advanced toward each other, skirting and circling, glancing back and forth and turning demurely (or gruffly) away.

Under the lights that leached colors to a surreal paleness, on the platform that elevated them from the awkward reality of the world, before an audience's charmed gaze, Kanda and Allen courted a real love.

"This is no reoccurring dream," Allen sang. "Unmistakably you and me have become we."

"The instant we touch, we can't go back," Kanda replied. "But that's alright, for my-my-my..." A cold sweat erupted along the back of Kanda's neck, trickled down his bare body. It sparkled under the stage lights.

Allen nodded encouragingly, the music continued to play though Reever faltered at the conductor's stand.

It had been like this during practice too.

"Think of someone you love," Allen said. "I mean I know that might be hard, but just pretend. And then say it."

Kanda growled. Allen didn't seem to understand that that honestly wasn't the problem.

"Come on. Say it with me. _Tai-se-tsu-na_-"

Kanda opened his mouth.

The longest, and most awkward silence followed.

"No," he snapped. "Change the goddamn lyrics. I can't say it. I can't."

Allen rolled his eyes. "Kanda..."

"How do _you_ say these ridiculous things?" Kanda shot back. "It's humiliating!"

Allen was remarkably serene. He tilted his head to one side and smiled before turning abruptly and walking slowly toward the window. He put his palm flat against the glass; his hands were now outlined with silvery lamplight. Streaks of silver shimmered in his hair. Kanda hesitated before joining him. He did not expect Allen to take his hands, even less to press them to his lips and fall forward into an embrace. Kanda barely stifled his instinct to shove Allen as hard as he could into the mirrors. They had already changed into their costumes, which left them naked from the waist up. Now they held still against each other, exploring the the strangeness of skin on skin. Shivering.

"Well I like you," Allen said. He smiled again, his hair tickling Kanda's chin. "It's easy to tell the truth."

"Are you stupid?" Kanda replied. He could feel fingers running down his spine. He closed his eyes.

"One more time," Allen murmured. "Tai-" he sang.

"Tai," returned Kanda.

"Se." Allen's fingers hovered around Kanda's hips.

"S-se."

"Tsu." Allen's fingers hopscotched up Kanda's impressively-defined abs. Cheekily, Allen's thumb probed Kanda's bellybutton, rubbed gently upwards. He followed each touch with the lightest of kisses.

"Tsuu," Kanda breathed.

"Na." Allen's fingertips teased Kanda's nipples, making him start and hiss. Allen pressed his mouth to Kanda's collarbone: a single, lingering kiss. The hot, wet press of tongue.

"Na—" Kanda replied. He brushed Allen's cheek with a hesitant finger.

"Anata!" Allen belted out, grinning hugely, his voice bright in the darkened room. And his arms were around Kanda's neck and his fingers tangled in that silky black hair, urging Kanda to bend a little as he himself stood on tiptoe, and they kissed, just once, very quickly because Allen immediately pulled away and commanded, like a caricature of a mad dictator, "Say it. Say it, if you want more!"

Kanda _moaned_. Allen continued dancing away, smiling. The cold absence of that small, warm body against his that calmness he had been feeling, that exquisite peace. The absence of those hands left his skin buzzing with heat.

It would be so simple to scream, "That's disgusting! Why would I want more? Who would ever want to kiss you?" But...

His first kiss. The shock of feeling... Yes, yes, he wanted more.

"Taisetsuna anata," Kanda conceded. "Now get over here."

Allen skipped merrily toward him. The sound of his heels echoed like bells. He stopped a foot away and Kanda found himself moving forward to fill the gap.

"Nope." Allen had held up a teasing hand. "What do you think you're doing? We have to practice!"

Kanda looked at Allen from across the stage, saw the faith and confidence in the boy's eyes, and also a promise. Looking at Allen's parted pink mouth, the words suddenly came much easier. "—one and only love." Kanda sang.

The audience burst into applause.

And Allen and Kanda rushed together, their fingers knotted between them, their hearts beating fast enough to send visible shivers down their bare skin. And they began to sing almost mouth to mouth, the words closing the space between like a kiss, Kanda with his eyes slitted and blushing furiously, Allen, wide-eyed, intent, searching for sincerity:

"Draw me closer, as if we are two magnets,  
>that even if we separate, we will reunite again.<br>Let's become one; it's okay not to able to turn back.  
>It's alright, for my one and only love."<p>

Rose petals began to rain down, scattering around them.

They inhaled each other's want. They felt it in the damp between their palms. Their noses brushed as they leaned in, hungering for just a taste. The erratic piano notes that danced around the skipping drumbeat blasted from the speakers loud enough to send shivers of sensation down both their spines. Heightening frustration.

They were so close, to hold that minute distance took so much strength, it hurt.

The instant the curtain dropped, Kanda pulled Allen into a kiss so deep, they were both dizzy when they finally broke apart.

"My room," Kanda demanded. They kissed again, Allen's tongue slipping between Kanda's teeth.

The pale boy was flushed with heat. "Too far." He licked Kanda's cheek, sucked a wet, slippery line down his neck. He closed his eyes and felt Allen push him against the wall.

Between kisses, they slid to the floor.

"_Ikeru toko made ikeba ii yo_," Allen sang softly, his voice strange with desire.

"Yes," Kanda replied. "Yes."


End file.
